Astronaut Julie Payette did not KO God in the first round

But she may have undermined the Liberal political party she obviously sympathizes with.

Sorry for all the news from Canada but sometimes a smaller place can be a bellwether. Re “Canadian astronaut turned governor-general trashes all Canadians who doubt that life is a “random process,” Mark Bonokoski at The Toronto Sun: “Imagine if [former Prime Minister] Harper had appointed Julie Payette as Governor General, and she had spouted off the same speech in which she mocked religion and ridiculed the faith of believers?”

Actually, Harper was never quite arrogant enough to do that. It’s a new development.

And Payette is not just a feckless office-seeker spouting off and learning the hard way. She speaks in the name of the Queen. Doubtless, Big Cool thinks that dissing the rubes who fund their international elite lifestyle is fun and educational. Meanwhile, the rubes contemplate the future with the next election in mind.*

On Nov. 1, Payette made critical statements about pseudo science, creationism and unwillingness by some people to accept that climate change is man-made.

“We are still debating and still questioning whether life was a divine intervention or whether it was coming out of a natural process let alone, oh my goodness, a random process,” Payette said in her speech.

Wall sent a letter to the Governor General Thursday deriding her comments and advising her to think again about speaking down to those with spiritual and religious beliefs.

“I am concerned recent comments you have made did not meet the standard of conduct that comes with your position,” the letter reads.

Wall adds that Payette will be more than welcome when she makes her first visit to Saskatchewan, but tells her “to avoid denigrating or mocking the many adherents of faiths that believe in a Creator,” adding that “many in Saskatchewan object to your comment.”

It didn’t help that Prime Minister Trudeau praised her comments, prompting the new Conservative leader Andrew Scheer to say,

“It is extremely disappointing that the prime minister will not support Indigenous peoples, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Christians and other faith groups who believe there is truth in their religion,” Scheer said in a statement posted to Facebook.

“Respect for diversity includes respect for the diversity of religious beliefs, and Justin Trudeau has offended millions of Canadians with his comments .” More.

Don’t cry for Scheer. He probably sold thousands of party memberships over this. Handy, now that they are raising a war chest for the 2019 election.

He fingered Trudeau, not Payette, because he suspects that Payette was speaking for Big Cool and Trudeau has done nothing to disabuse anyone of that.

* In fairness to Payette, she probably learned all the wrong lessons from being a science celeb in the time of Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson. But they aren’t governors general anywhere. So she had better start unlearning some of those lessons fast. A constitutional monarchy is not a totalitarian state run by the Brights.

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